Serving up great food since 2001

Category Archives: Vegeterian

This tart is so easy to make and it is scrumptious. Since I made it for two of us, I halved the recipe that I usually make for parties etc. When serving many people I cut it into one inch squares and place in cupcake papers. This full recipe is made in a half sheet pan. I use a quarter sheet pan for the half recipe.Line either size with parchment paper.

Ingredients:

Half a package of phyllo, thawed.

6 onions

4 tablespoons Sweet Onion Sugar (optional)

1/3 cup olive oil

1 box (5.2 oz) Boursin Cheese

2 cups arugula

juice & zest of one lemon (Meyer if you can get it)

Salt and Pepper

Splash of olive oil

Method:

Heat oven to 400 degrees

Make caramelized onions by sauteeing the sliced onions in a little olive oil. Add the sweet onion sugar. cook down on low for an hour, stirring frequently. Allow to cool slightly,

Lay out the Phyllo dough, cover with plastic wrap and top with a wet kitchen towel.

Lay out two sheets of phyllo on to the baking sheet, then brush with olive oil and continue the process until all of the sheets have been laid out. Keep replacing the plastic and towel in between layers. Some of the phyllo should hang over the edge. Brush a layer of oil on the top sheet.

Spread the onions out evenly on the phyllo

Crumble the cheese over the onions

Add salt and pepper to taste

Bake for 20 minutes

Toss the arugula with the lemon juice and olive oil, then top the tart with it.

Lay the tart out on a cutting board (just pull the paper out onto the board) and cut with a pizza cutter.

This can be served warm or room temperature. It keeps for a week in an air tight container.

These are one of my favorite fall/winter breakfast dishes…. each bite bursts with flavor and they are full of antioxidants too. As soon as my pomegranates are ripe I start making things from them and this is just one of many things I like to do with them. I sometimes make them with sourdough starter, but you can also use buttermilk and flour as I give instructions for here. I use good Vermont Maple Syrup on the side. You can change out the fruit, but I really think this is an amazing combination. Bacon on the side is a perfect compliment. Bring on the Mimosas!

Ingredients:

2 cups self rising flour (White Lily preferred)

2/3 to 1 cup of buttermilk

pinch of salt

2 eggs

2 tablespoons of melted butter

1 cup of blueberries

1 cup of pomegranate

Method:

Using a stand mixer blend together all but the fruit. You want a fairly thin consistency, but not as thin as crepe batter. Add more buttermilk or flour as needed. Make a plain test pancake first, it should be about 1/3 of an inch thick.

Preheat a griddle and wipe a used butter wrapper on the griddle

Test heat by dropping a drop of water on it, it should immediately bounce.

Pour two pancakes at a time unless you have a double size griddle.

As soon as you have poured them on to the griddle, generously drop berries and pomegranate all over the top of the pancakes.

When the pancakes start to have air bubbles, it is time to flip.

Continue cooking till the bottom of the pancake is golden. You can lift the edge to check. This should take 1-2 minutes.

This dish is simple and yet one of the best dishes I have ever made. The flavors come bold and subtly, rich and satisfying and engagingly interesting at the same time. The inspiration came from Jerusalem by Yytam Ottolenghi and Sami Tammi. I added Meyer lemon, olives (black oil cured and green pitted) and used half of the chicken of their recipe. I also used more olive oil and less water than their recipe. So you can just add more chicken if you want to serve four people. You can Also use a whole chicken cut up instead of thighs.

Ingredients:

1 # Jerusalem artichokes (sun chokes) peeled and cut into quarters

3 tablespoons lemon juice (I used Meyer, but any lemon juice is fine)

4 bone in chicken thighs

6 large shallots cut in half

12 cloves garlic peeled

2 medium Meyer Lemons, cut in half and then sliced thinly (you can use other kinds of lemon)

This is such a nutritious and delicious thing to have on hand. It can be served with grilled pita bread, rustic breads, slices of radishes, carrots or cucumbers or eaten as a salad on its own. There are a lot of recipes out there, this one is based on a Palestinian version, basically a parsley salad. Chop and stir! This keeps for about a week in the refrigerator. I used fresh and dried parsley to get different levels of flavor.

I never even thought of Fried Green Tomatoes as a recipe until a few people asked me how to make them. They are super easy and very tasty when done right. My great grandmother used to make them, though hers were made with just flour, not the combo of flour and cornmeal that I use now. This method if dredging, dipping and dredging again is the secret to fried chicken and most any coated fried food. The final dredge changes, anything from seasoned flour to panko, but the method stays the same. In the fall green tomatoes are pulled from the vines before first frost, but here in the south, people treasure them all year and green tomatoes are sold in our farmer’s markets. To keep them from ripening, store in the refrigerator till ready to use. They will keep several weeks. I never refrigerate ripe tomatoes, as that kills the sweetness.

This fabulous recipe was inspired by the book The Latin Road Home by Jose Garces. The book explores the cuisines of Ecuador, Spain, Cuba and Mexico. This is one of the best cookbooks I have picked up in a while. In this recipe, I used fresh corn, but good frozen corn would work too. I also added some seasonings and chiles to the recipe. I make my own achiote paste, but you can buy it in Hispanic or Asian markets. Quinoa is an amazing chenopod, full of protein and fiber.

Crema de Quinoa de Zuleta; Quinoa Chowder with Sweet Corn

Ingredients:

2 cups Canola Oil for frying

2 small russet potatoes, peeled and cut into match sticks or cut on a spiral cutter